Greenpeace says orangutans are “literally dying for a biscuit” in a new report that slams snack giant Mondelez over its controversial use of “destructive” palm oil — which is created by destroying rainforest habitats.

Palm oil shot to nationwide attention this month after Iceland’s Christmas TV ad about the ongoing crisis was banned in the UK.

The notorious substance is widely used in products found in British and Australian supermarkets, and the ad drew attention to its impact on orangutans.

Voiced by actress Emma Thompson, the ad tugged at heartstrings by showing the destruction of a young orangutan’s home — but was deemed too political by Britain’s ad watchdog.

Now new mapping by Greenpeace has linked Mondelez — which makes Cadbury, Oreo and Ritz products — to the destruction of a major orangutan habitat in Indonesia.

“It’s outrageous that despite promising to clean up its palm oil almost 10 years ago, Mondelez is still trading with forest destroyers,” said Kiki Taufik, who leads Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s Indonesia forests campaign.

“Palm oil can be made without destroying forests, yet our investigation discovered that Mondelez suppliers are still trashing forests and wrecking orangutan habitat, pushing these beautiful and intelligent creatures to the brink of extinction.

“They’re literally dying for a biscuit,” Kiki added.

Mondelez’ own records show it purchased more than 300,000 tonnes of palm oil and palm oil products in 2017.

And Greenpeace says 95 per cent of this is purchased using the “weakest of the certification models” — a regulatory shortcut, basically.

“This means that the plantations and producer groups from which the overwhelming majority of the palm oil that Mondelez purchases is sourced are not governed by any sustainability initiatives,” the report blasts.

The tear-jerking advert showed orangutans being forced out of their homes due to palm oil production.Source:istock

This network of access roads is on former orangutan habitat in Southeast Asia.Source:Supplied

Mondelez is part of several industry groups working towards sustainable palm oil usage.

According to Greenpeace, Mondelez was sourcing palm oil from 22 of these groups — between them, over 70,000 hectares of rainforest was destroyed between 2015 and 2017.

Of that area, 25,000 hectares were “forested orangutan habitat”.

But Greenpeace warns that the scale of the problem may be even worse: “These are just the cases that Greenpeace was able to identify — Mondelez sources from hundreds of palm oil companies and this destruction is likely just the tip of the iceberg.”

The report claims that Mondelez gets lots of its “dirty palm oil” from Wilmar Iternational, the world’s biggest trader.

Greenpeace says that Wilmar fails to monitor its suppliers, and has “refused to make the radical changes that would end its trade with forest destroyers”.

Huge areas of orangutan habitat in Indonesia have been lost due to palm oil production.Source:Supplied

It’s not just wildlife at risk, either. It’s claimed that Mondelez palm oil suppliers have been accused of “child labour, exploitation of workers, illegal deforestation, forest fires and land grabbing”.

“Mondelez’s new tagline, revealed in September, is ‘snacking made right’, but there’s nothing right about palm oil produced by killing orangutans and fuelling climate change,” said Richard George, Greenpeace UK Forests Campaigner.

“This must be a wake up call to Mondelez and other household brands to take action, starting with cutting off the dirtiest palm oil trader of all, Wilmar, until it can prove its palm oil is clean.

“Ultimately, if big brands can’t find enough clean palm oil to make their products, they need use to less.”

Cadbury, Oreo and Ritz were among the supermarket snacks that were named in the report.Source:Supplied

Oreo, one of the products named in the report, is a hit with vegans due to the fact that it contains zero animal products.

But the use of palm oil that contributes to the destruction of the rainforest will raise concerns about the ethics of Oreo consumption.

“We encourage consumers to check labels on food and — if they contain palm oil — purchase products that have been certified by the Palm Oil Innovation Group in order to ensure that no new deforestation has occurred to create palm plantations,” she said.

Responding to the report, a Mondelez spokesperson said: “Mondelez International is committed to eradicating deforestation in the palm oil supply and we’re actively working with our suppliers to ensure palm oil is fully traceable.

“We’re calling on our suppliers to further map and monitor the plantations where oil is grown so we can drive further traceability. We’re excluding 12 upstream suppliers from our supply chain who have not met our standards.

“For many years we have been calling for 100 per cent sustainable and 100 per cent traceable palm oil and we’re making good progress on our Palm Oil Action Plan.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.